Featuring Courageshipping (Maiden of Aqua x Austin O'Brien) from Yu-Gi-Oh GX

It was too cold. O'Brien wanted to do anything other than be out in this godforsaken weather. But he had had a job to do, and now that it was over, he was stuck in America for a few more days during the coldest month of the year, tramping through the snow to get back to his hotel.

He sighed. New York in the winter was a horrible place to be. Why couldn't his job had taken him to California? There at least it was a little warmer.

A soft heat warmed his breast. He glanced down at his breast pocket with curiosity. Fumbling for a minute with his gloved hands, he managed to flip open the pocket. This was where he kept the Maiden of Aqua card...

The card was glowing softly as he pulled it from his pocket. Half a second passed, and then the Maiden of Aqua was standing next to him, her breath spiraling into the air.

"Hello," she said brightly.

"Manami," O'Brien said, looking around quickly to make sure no one had seen. "You can't do that just at any time. Humans aren't used to spirits appearing at random."

"But I sensed you were feeling unhappy...is something wrong?"

Then she seemed to realize how cold it was, and wrapped her hands around her arms.

"Oh my! It certainly is cold! Is this why you were upset?"

O'Brien grimaced.

"Part of it," he said, starting to unbutton his jacket. "You need to look at where I am before you go dimension jumping."

Manami blushed.

"Oh, well...if you're in trouble, I want to come to you, now that we have a channel open...oh, no, please don't take off your jacket. Just a moment!"

She clapped her hands once, and water swirled around her for a moment. O'Brien hurriedly stepped over to make sure she was shielded from sight. Then the water solidified, and she was clad in a long coat, a hat, gloves and boots.

"Manami, again, not when everyone can see," O'Brien said. "We're not in your dimension right now..."

"Oops," Manami said, although she didn't look very guilty. Her attention was quickly claimed by the vast hills of snow in Central Park across the street. "Oh! How beautiful!"

Her voice was breathless and full of awe, deep blue eyes wide and sparkling with wonder.

O'Brien had to smile. He might not like snow, but her expression was enough to make even him think kindly of it for now.

"Isn't there snow in your dimension?" O'Brien asked.

"Not this much," she said. "We first met in Dark World, and it never snows there...and I'm from the Ocean Realm, and there's only really snow in the poles. I rarely go there...I got into a fight with one of the keepers of the Ice Barrier and I've been trying to avoid her for a while."

She rubbed her hands together. Then she seemed to become fascinated with the sight of her breath in the air and breathed out a few more times over-exaggeratedly so that she could watch it float into the air.

O'Brien felt himself relax in a way that he rarely found himself able to. She had an aura like that, one that reminded him that he wasn't in a high-risk situation and it was okay to calm down.

"Are you staying long?" he asked.

"Well, I don't see why not," she said. "I mean, I can only materialize on this plane for a few days at a time, but there's nothing pressing for me to get back to..."

A soft jingling sound caught both of their attention.

"Oh, what's that?" Manami said, looking interested.

It was a sleigh, pulled by a large black Clydesdale that sported jingle bells hanging from its harness. They made their pretty jingling sound as it came to a stop and the couple that had been riding started to get off.

O'Brien glanced at Manami. She was staring at the couple and the sleigh, watching the pair laugh and hold hands as they moved away from the sleigh.

"Did you want to go for a ride?" O'Brien asked, extending his hand to her.

Her whole face lit up. She put her small hand into his and they crossed the street. The driver gave the pair of them a toothy grin.

"Evening, evening," he said. "You make a cute couple. Want to go for a ride around the park?"

"Yes, please!" Manami said. She looked incredibly happy at him calling them a 'cute couple', and O'Brien smiled.

O'Brien paid the man and then helped Manami up into the sleigh. The bells jingled again as the man nudged the horse forward, and they started off, a smooth a takeoff as any O'Brien had known.

Manami's eyes were everywhere, taking in all the sights.

"Look, the way the snow just hangs on the trees there...it looks like they're dressed up for the winter!"

"Yeah...I guess it is pretty, huh?"

"It's beautiful!"

Well, the snow was pretty...but O'Brien's eyes kept wandering back to Manami's bright eyes and wide smile. He smiled slowly.

It was nice to relax once in a while. He was lucky to have her here, to remind him that it was okay.

He reached across the aisle to put his hand on her knee. She didn't quite look at him, but he saw her smile. Her own hand rested lightly on top of his.

Silence. That was good too.

Only the sound of bells jingling filled the space.